algorithms
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Holiday Recommendations
Trust, as in all things, is important in film-going. I trusted my best friend Tim when, in middle school, he told me to see The Net. I trusted Janet Maslin when she raved about The Straight Story. Elaine famously trusted Vincent the video store clerk when he recommended Pain and Yearning (a fictitious title) in Seinfeld. But in this golden age of technology and information hoarding, more and more entities are demanding, and abusing our trust. I am of course referring to the A-word — algorithm. Now, I’m not going to say all algorithms are bad. I trust Rotten Tomatoes, […]
by Charles Poekel on Dec 14, 2017 -
Rise of the Machines: Cathy O’Neil and James Schamus on How Algorithms are Changing Society — and Filmmaking
Amazon and Netflix are having a huge impact on the independent film business, and there are more players entering the subscription VOD space every day, both here in the United States and worldwide. I myself just had a great experience working with Netflix on Kitty Green’s Casting JonBenet, which Green, Filmmaker’s own editor-in-chief Scott Macaulay and I produced. Opening day on Netflix was, though, a bit unsettling. The data driving the film’s marketing, and the measures for its success or failure, are closely held corporate secrets — even the sources and kinds of data the company uses to determine how […]
by James Schamus on Sep 14, 2017
